Pain of Song
by SilverWolf7
Summary: Spoilers for 'Planet of the Ood'. The day's events leave the Doctor with a nasty headache. Donna helps him get some rest.


Disclaimer: They're not mine. They belong to the BBC.

Pain of Song

He had a headache.

Not the most crushing thing in the universe, but it was there and getting worse as the minutes dragged by.

Freeing the Ood from the humans that were enslaving them had been good and they were well on their way of doing it without him. He hadn't really been needed at all, since they had everything relatively under control themselves.

But it had left him with a headache.

The Ood as he had found out when he and Rose had been on Krop Tor so many years ago now, were telepathic. The field in which they used to communicate to each other there had been dampened by distance and time. He hadn't heard it then, the Ood hadn't even bothered trying.

But today, with Donna, he had heard their song, first through the dying moments of a lone Ood, then through the captives, singing their loud, heartbreaking lament about their lack of freedom, and then when he destroyed the circle dampening the telepathic field around the control brain.

It was that last one which raised it to levels even those that weren't telepathic could hear it, and Donna laughed, because it wasn't sad and painful now, but alive and free and relieved. It was their Song, the Ood Song.

He had been asked to join in with them. He had hesitated in saying no, but he had done, because while it would be a comfort to him, it wasn't the same as having his own people there.

He would have to remember to shield himself in the face of another race that uses telepathy. It had been so long since he had heard anything using that part of himself that he had forgotten that his shields were down. He had been listening, but hadn't heard anything received until they had landed here.

It had hurt. After years of empty loneliness, when something was finally there again, the first thing he had done was complain about the pain in his head. It had been the song then.

Now, now wasn't because of a song, but the lack of it. His head ached, pounded to a tune that wasn't there anymore, but had been a few minutes ago. Sighing he reached up and rubbed at his temples.

"Doctor? You alright?" Donna asked, seeing the movement that was pretty much universal for 'get the aspirin'. Too bad he was allergic.

"Headache," he replied, grimacing as talking seemed to make it worse. He stopped the TARDIS in the vortex, content to stay there until he felt better. The ship, understanding what was wrong, quieted herself a bit more, dulling her own link with his mind in an attempt to help him.

Too late. His little headache was more than little now. His ears were ringing, and the pounding became sharp. He needed to go lie down for a bit in a dark place, before he was actually sick.

"You got aspirin?'

"Donna, shut up. And no, I'm allergic."

He stumbled as he made his way into the corridors of the TARDIS, glad when he found the door to his room was the closest one to him. He pulled it open, walked in and collapsed onto the bed. Donna followed in behind him, frowning all the while.

"Close the door, you're letting light in," he mumbled into his pillow, glad when the woman did as she was told for once. The room went dark, and Donna was soon sitting on the bed beside him, so as to not stumble blindly around. I was a smart thing to do on her part; there were things all over his floor from the last time he had gone in here for spare parts to create another sonic screwdriver.

Her hands sought out his body, and finding his stomach, crawled upwards until they reached his face. When she put her hands in a similar position he had put his own on hers that day to open her mind so she could hear the Captive Song, he frowned. "Donna? You know you can't do what I did earlier today, right?" he asked.

She snorted. "Too right. That was weird. I didn't know you were telepathic. Turn around so you're lying on your back, it'll make this easier."

Make what easier? He was pretty sure he was suffering through a migraine. Nothing would make that better but rest. He rolled on to his back anyway, and Donna's hands went to different places on his head.

It wasn't until her hands began working in circles, her fingers kneading his skin and trying to help him relax a bit that he understood what she was doing. She was giving him a massage. At first it did nothing for him at all, but after a few minutes and her fingers moved spots, he found himself relaxing slightly, even though it still hurt.

He let his eyes drift close and he savoured the touch of another being, so close to where he hurt. He doubted she'd be able to get rid of the pain doing this, but relaxing even just a fraction could help. It was a roundabout way of getting rid of the pain.

"Doctor?' she asked him, her voice barely a whisper.

"Mmm?'

"That better?"

"Mmm."

She succeeded in her aim after a while, not getting rid of the ache itself, but lulling him to sleep it off.

For the first time in a long while he had no nightmares, and his mind was full of a Song he would never forget.


End file.
